Tablet banking not taking off, research claims

Consumers still prefer to check their bank balance on their PCs, rather than a tablet, a new research claims.

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Consumers aren't really fond of the idea of using tablets to do their banking, according to new research from Intelligent Environments. Instead, the PC is still the preferred digital tool for checking bank balance.

Following the research, Intelligent Environments has called on the financial services sector to 'improve the tablet banking experience', enabling them to better manage their finances. More than four fifths (86 per cent) use digital banking to check their balance, with more than half (53 per cent) using a personal computer. In a quarter of cases (25 per cent), it's the smartphone they choose.

Tablets, on the other hand, have been mentioned just nine per cent of the time. And that's an average – in East Midlands it goes down to two per cent, and rises to 12 per cent in the North West.

“Just a few years ago, on the back of skyrocketing tablet sales and declining PC sales, it was widely tipped that tablet banking usage would overtake smartphone banking by 2016 and PC banking soon after,” said Simon Cadbury, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Intelligent Environments.

“However, despite almost two thirds of internet users predicted to be tablet users in 2016, digital banking adoption on the tablet hasn’t kept pace, as our research clearly shows. This tell us that banks have yet to optimise the customer experience for tablet banking.” “Providers need to avoid the mistake of making their tablet experience a copy of smartphone banking. They now need to expand their tablet functionality in a way that plays to the devices’ advantages.

Their larger screens for example lend themselves to easier reading and navigation than a smartphone. The popularity of the tablet can help drive further adoption of digital banking, in turn helping to drive engagement and loyalty. The FS sector needs to seize this opportunity.”